NEW SERIES: "Super Robot Chogokin"

Well, this goes back to the whole "action figures versus robot toys" argument, doesn't it? Action figures are designed to look good and be articulated even if the designs of their joint mechanisms don't necessarily match the actual "robot mechanics" of the show or whatever. In contrast, robot toys emphasize "roboty" gimmicks over articulation and looks...not these gimmicks have to be accurate to the show, of course.

Your classic Popy STs didn't transform, but instead of loading them up with articulation or making them look accurate, they added heads that shoot off, missiles where there were none, shooting fists, whatever.

These new toys are clearly more action figure than robot toy, but it makes sense. I mean, Revoltechs seem pretty damn popular. This is what folks want. Hey, regardless of our preferences, gashapon sell!

The owner at Kicks Hobby, back in the day, showed me the elevator in action (like the motorized Daitetsujin 17). I remember he was wary about actually placing his GX-01 Mazinger on the lift, but it was still cool.

Sadly, I doubt God Reideen or Cybaster will be made 'transformable' for this new line. It's too bad, since the articulation on the last God Reideen was terrible; still a pretty figure that transformed.

Like Revoltech and Robot Damashii, I hope this new line continues to be semi-random in choosing it's releases. One thing I respect about the Revoltech line is it didn't start off with a Gundam, Mazinger or Eva for it's first figure release...it didn't even dip into Eva until the 4th figure. Then again, RD started off with Eureka seveN figures...

>
> This reminds me of GX-01X Hanger:
> [tamashii.jp]
>
>
> The owner at Kicks Hobby, back in the day, showed
> me the elevator in action (like the motorized
> Daitetsujin 17). I remember he was wary about
> actually placing his GX-01 Mazinger on the lift,
> but it was still cool.
>
> Sadly, I doubt God Reideen or Cybaster will be
> made 'transformable' for this new line. It's too
> bad, since the articulation on the last God
> Reideen was terrible; still a pretty figure that
> transformed.
>
> Like Revoltech and Robot Damashii, I hope this new
> line continues to be semi-random in choosing it's
> releases. One thing I respect about the Revoltech
> line is it didn't start off with a Gundam,
> Mazinger or Eva for it's first figure release...it
> didn't even dip into Eva until the 4th figure.
> Then again, RD started off with Eureka seveN
> figures...

The fact that Revoltech launched with a God damn Dougram mold made me instantly respect their way of picking subjects.

This is the line to fill the gap between SoCs and Robot Damashii/SRiA I guess.
I will pick the line up begrudgingly because I am a chogo completist, but I tell you now, I am pretty sure I am not going to like them.

cohiba Wrote:
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> I will pick the line up begrudgingly because I am
> a chogo completist, but I tell you now, I am
> pretty sure I am not going to like them.

Sounds like a line out of Green Eggs and Ham.

Actually, you almost sound like an addict grudgingly making the trip to the housing authority to get your next fix. Not that a chogo-addiction is entirely the worst of afflictions to suffer from in the grand scheme of things. Where do you draw the line on the boundries of chogo-completism?

Thanks for asking, I guess my boundaries are quite flexible. Anything with diecast is OK. But anything popy/bandai with a G# or p# classification and variants, old Zgokin takatokus, bullmarks and any prototypes that might exist are core to the collection. I don't hink of the SIC line as chogokin anymore, as the diecast content is tiny. I started collecting the cheaper toys, like some of the Victora and grip toys, but I stopped as I do not see the fascination with most of them.

hillsy Wrote:
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> I would guess that most folks that collect the
> cheapie train station toys, like Victora, are more
> character driven than "chogo" driven, in their
> collections.

don't get me wrong, I don't hate the cheapie toys. I like some of them but I feel that a lot of them are of poor quality and are not necesary for my collection.

Of the cheaper toys, I like the nakajima atom, the victora t-28, the dragonar, which was the only diecast dragonar you could get for a while. The tiny doraemon and the rainbowman robot are somethngs i've wanted and haven't acted on for a while. obviously the godmazinger is a highly sought after piece and is a part of my collection. I just don't feel I need to buy all the cheapie bots. A lot of them, like the dairuggger, golion, albegas, bismark, battle fever, daltanias are redundant if you have the nicer versions and I don't feel the need to own them.

I really like the promise and potential of this new line, the Maz and his weapons are nice and reasonably priced. There's plenty of variety and the line's gimmick, the effects parts, are boss.

Many are saying this si some kind of step gap line, I think it's a response to the recession and collectors having less money to spend on toys but still wanting to do so, I think this will give Bandai an enviable position in the market. Good quality figures, better then revoltechs, damashi's and GNU's but cheaper then the really high end stuff.

So far I only want about 4 of these, the SRW guys and a Maz or two. I hope Gunbuster finds it's way into this line as the previous action figures were a bit rubbish and the SOC is apparently getting expensive/hard to find.

Plus the weapons set and effects parts for GB could be off the hook. :D

MattAlt Wrote:
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> [photozou.jp]
>
> Pix of the special stand Bandai is going to be
> limited-releasing for the Mazinger.

of COURSE it's a limited release stand! God forbid that someone who wants to buy one a month after the toy streets is able to just go into a store and pick it up off the shelf! That would be WRONG!

One assumes there'll be a matching/mating stand for Great Mazinger, per some of the pics when the product line was shown?

Jeebus, Bandai. What is WRONG with you?

Has there been any official statement on just which Mazinger this is? I'm guessing Shin Mazinger due to the pilder colors and lack of Iron Cutter or Needle Punch parts. Guess it doesn't really matter. Rounded Breast Fire= manga, squared-off = anime. Anything else is just tiny details. :)

SteveH Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MattAlt Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > [photozou.jp]
> >
> > Pix of the special stand Bandai is going to be
> > limited-releasing for the Mazinger.
>
>
> of COURSE it's a limited release stand! God forbid
> that someone who wants to buy one a month after
> the toy streets is able to just go into a store
> and pick it up off the shelf! That would be
> WRONG!
>
> One assumes there'll be a matching/mating stand
> for Great Mazinger, per some of the pics when the
> product line was shown?
>
> Jeebus, Bandai. What is WRONG with you?
>
> Has there been any official statement on just
> which Mazinger this is? I'm guessing Shin Mazinger
> due to the pilder colors and lack of Iron Cutter
> or Needle Punch parts. Guess it doesn't really
> matter. Rounded Breast Fire= manga, squared-off =
> anime. Anything else is just tiny details. :)

Well, it has the Toei anime series body and head, with Shin Mazinger's sun-screened nose and red eyeliner. The Hover Pilder is also a combination of both Classic and Shin Mazinger's.

I wouldn't worry about the lack of Iron Cutters or Drill Missile. Bandai will probably put out a "Later Episodes" accessorie pack with the updated Jet Pilder, updated Scrander, Iron Cutters, and Drill Missile attachments. And it will sell very well too...

Oh, and the same will most likely apply to the Great Mazinger as well, since it comes completely stripped of any accessories.

And they BOTH have swords. That's the thing that gets me. Of course Great Mazinger had swords, that's his key gimmick, but Mazinger Z, no sword, not until the end of the show and Great Maz shows up.

I can't shake the feeling that the swords are the only actual diecast content. It would be the most amazing dick move Bandai had ever pulled off if that turns out to be true.

That's the thing that confuses me about the Mazinger Z upgrade pack. They give the 'super iron fist' thing which was in one, just one episode but no iron cutters. You get 4 Rocket Punch 'effects' parts, one assumes they can be used with Great Mazinger as well, but none of the other 'effects'. Maybe you're supposed to use two of them as exhaust from the Scrander?

SteveH Wrote:
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> And they BOTH have swords. That's the thing that
> gets me. Of course Great Mazinger had swords,
> that's his key gimmick, but Mazinger Z, no sword,
> not until the end of the show and Great Maz shows
> up.
>
> I can't shake the feeling that the swords are the
> only actual diecast content. It would be the most
> amazing dick move Bandai had ever pulled off if
> that turns out to be true.
>
> That's the thing that confuses me about the
> Mazinger Z upgrade pack. They give the 'super iron
> fist' thing which was in one, just one episode but
> no iron cutters. You get 4 Rocket Punch 'effects'
> parts, one assumes they can be used with Great
> Mazinger as well, but none of the other 'effects'.
> Maybe you're supposed to use two of them as
> exhaust from the Scrander?
>
> ah, well.

Well the sword Maz-Z comes with is just one of Great Maz's swords right? I guess it's another way of encouraging you to buy both figures. And as for the rocket punch effect parts, yes, I assume two are for Maz-Z and two are for Great.

I actually totally forgot about Iron Cutter, but I don't really mind it's not in there. I DO hope that Great's Great Boomerang gimmick is included, because it's such an easy and obvious thing and there's really no excuse not to have that giant V-crest thing be removeable.

All in all I'm extremely excited for the figures, even if they don't do quite as much as their old SOC counterparts.

delta_7890 Wrote:
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>> Well the sword Maz-Z comes with is just one of
> Great Maz's swords right? I guess it's another
> way of encouraging you to buy both figures.

Kind of like the idea behind Fewture Mazinger 1969 (now THAT was one badass sword).

Instead of that rock face, maybe a pile of defeated mechanical beasts would have been better.

SteveH Wrote:
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> Yeah, I get a 'wordplay' read off that, could be
> 'Brother' or 'Blazer'. We'll probably see both
> used depending.

That's not how "blazer" is spelled in katakana. They spell blazer with a "rei", which sounds more like the English long-A sound, not a "ra". Compare to every toy or anime robot that has ever had "blazer" in its name.

> Man, you know the most bizzare thing? I mean what
> really leaps out and hits me about that?
> It looks like someone took Jumbo Machinder
> Mazinger Z and made it a fighting machine. Look at
> that missile placement and tell me different.

Seems pretty obviously the intent of the designer, particularly with the way the shoulder missiles look. I mean, they're blank red tubes with a white band and fins right where the nose starts to taper.

And yet... the whole effect is still pretty ugly.
I kinda wish it had the stupid three-missile-firing hand replacement.

SteveH Wrote:
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> And the Japanese have never, ever, EVER ignored
> their own spelling and pronunciation rules when
> rendering something into English, not in 40-some
> years of TV anime, right?

"burazaa" doesn't sound like "blazer". It looks like it on paper, because they have an A before the Z, but if you actually sound it out, with actual Japanese phonetics, instead of just looking at the Roman letters being used to represent it... it doesn't sound like "blazer".